US Involvment In Vietnam 1954-63 Flashcards
Where was the first important battle in Vietnam?
Dien Bien Phu
When was the first important battle in Vietnam?
13th March 1954
What were 2 reasons for the first important battle in Vietnam?
Vietnam was a French colony. After WW2 France wanted to regain it’s colonies
The Vietnamese wanted interdependence
What was the communist Vietnamese party called?
Vietminh
Who led the Vietminh?
Ho Chi Minh
What happened after Japan Surrendered in WW2?
Ho Chi Minh annouced that Vietnam was now the Democratic Rebublic of Vietnam
And that they were free from France
He also asked the US for help to secure their interdependence
Why didn’t the US help Vietnam secure thir interdependence?
They thought Ho Chi Minh may make Vietnam communist
How did the French react to the formation of the Decomratic Rebublic of Vietnam?
Theu set up the State of Vietnam in the south (were there was less suport for Ho Chi Minh)
Who ruled the the State of Vietnam?
Bao Dai who was under the controll of the French
When did China become communist?
1949
Why did th fear of communism spreading grow in 1949?
China became communist and started suppling the Vietminh with supplies, weapons and advisers
By 1954 how mich was the US spending in Vietnam?
80% of Frances War - theu urged them to send advisers
What happened right before the battle at Dien Bien Phu?
The french built an airstrip to lure the Vietminh over for a battle
The French had 15,000 troops and waited for an attack
How did the Vietminh reat the the building of an air strip in Dien Bien Phu?
They surrounded it with 50,000 troops with artilery on the mountian (which took months) and anti aircraft guns
Who did the Vietminh have in reserve at Dien Bien Phu?
Anpther 50,000 soilders
200,000 civilians helping them eg with the transporting of the artilery up the mountian
How long sid the battle of Dien Bien Phu last?
55 days
When did the French surrender at Dien Bien Phu?
7th May 1954
Why didn’t the americans get involved at Dien Bien Phu?
The korean war had lost 34,000 american lives so it was unlilly that congess would aprove plans fo another war
What were the main reasons that the French lost at Dien Bien Phu?
Local conditions Local support China's help Vietminh commitment French problems
How did local conditions lead the a vietminh victory?
The vietnamese people new the landscape of their countey and had saw that it was a trap
They knew which mountians they could put artiliary on and which it would be too hard to do so
How dod local support lead to the Vietminh victory?
The local villagers would do anything that the army needed
They helped move supplies - make roads ect
Theu could spy on the French
How did Vietminh commintent lead to their win?
Theu would work all day and night
Theu were fighting for thir interpendence (they had a good reason to fight)
How did french problems lead to the Vietminh victory?
Theu understimated the Vietminh
Supply planes were shot down
The troops lacked commitment - many troops were German and not French
Where did 9 countries meet to discuss what would happen to Vietnam?
What did this result in?
Geneva
The geneva accords
What did the Geneva Accords do?
Seperate Vietnam along the 17th parallel
Ho Chi Minh would run North Vietnam
Bao Dai would run South Vietnam
For up to 300 days people of Vietnam could move between the North and South freely
No foreign troops could set up bases in Vietnam
In July 1956 elections would be help for leadership for a united Vietnam (under international supervision)
Who did Bao Dai elect prime minister?
Ngo Dinh Diem
When was Diem elected Prime Minister?
June 1954
How did Diem get controll of South Vietnam?
Dai went ot France so Diem ruled the country
What was the capital of North Vietnam?
Hanoi
What was the capital of South Vietnem?
Saigon
Which countries were at the Geniva summit?
USA, USSR, UK, Cambodia, China, France, Laos, North Vietnam, South Vietnam
What disagreements were made in Geneva?
South Vietnam and the USA refused to obay the Accords
North Vietnam wanted Vietnam to be split by the 13th parallel and for elections to be in 6 months
Why was the agreement in Geneva a waste of time?
Neither country wanted the agreements
China pressurised North Vietnam to give in
What haopened to advisers (of the west) in Vietnam after the Geneva Accords?
US advisers stayed
French advisers left
Who created the Domino Theory?
Eisenhower
What was the Domino Theory?
The thought that is Vietnam fell to communism other countries like Laos, Cambodia and Burma would also fall to communism
What did Eisenhower set up to stop the Domino Theory?
SEATO
South East Asia Treaty Organisation
When was SEATO set up?
September 1954
Who was in SEATO?
USA, UK, France, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand
What did the members of SEATO agree?
They would act together with force if necesary to stop communism spreading in Southeast Asia
Why didn’t people trust in Diem’s government?
There were still many communist in South Vietnam
Other religious and political geoups had their own armies
Diem was Catholic (not Buddist)
Diem mainly gave Jobs to his family and Catholics
Diem had little intrest in the countyside only in Saigon
He was seen as a US puppet
Why was Diems religion a problem?
He was a Catholic in a country filled with Buddists
Therefore many peopel didn’t trust him
Who ran many villages?
What effect did this have?
Corrupt and greedy landlords which reflected badly on Die s reputation
How did Eisenhower support Diem?
Sending more advisers to train the ARVN
What happened in October 1955?
Bao Dai spoke out against Diem’s government
When did Dai speak put against Diem’s government?
October 1955
What was Diem’s responce to Dai challenging him?
He held a referendum with the people voting for him to remain in power (theu were widly seen as corrupt and fixed
Why effects did election in 1955 being fixed have?
Looked like US supported Diem as they supervised them
Made people like Diem less
Why were elections die to be held on the 16th July 1956?
What happened?
In accordance of the Geneva Accord
Diem refused as his government didn’t aprove the Geneva Accords (Bao Dai did)
How did US advisers describe Diem?
Reliant on force to stay in power
Why did the US support Diem?
Basicly because anything was better than communism - Diem tecniquily was Anti-Communism (although he wasn’t much better)
(Truman Doctrine)
What was a feature of Diem’s rule in Vietnam?
Took US money but not advice - assured Eisenhower that the people supporte dhim (when they didn’t)
Started a campaign against his political opponests (mainly communists)
What happened with Diem’s campagn against his political opponesnts?
He begame to arrest polotical and religous opponets
His “dencounce a communist” campaign urged people to report communist to the government
In 1957 he sent the ARVN into the countryside to find and arrest communists - 65,000 arrests, 2000 killed
What was the Vietcong of (VC)?
Communists in South Vietnam
Why did the North Vietnamese support the VC?
In hope that they would start a revolution and bring communism to power so the North could take control
What was the Ho Chi Minh trail?
Pathsways (the majority in Laos and Cambodia that was used by the VC to supply the Vietnam War
What happened (the evolution) of the Ho Chi Minh trail?
By 1960 the path became wider
By 1974 there were ven some underground hospitals, storages and some of the trail became paved
What happened in November 1960
Some army leaders tried to overthrown Diem but failed
What was a result of the coup on Diem?
Diem blamed the US
-the US urged him to become more democratic and popular with the people but Doem ignired the US’s advice
What does the NLF stand for?
National Liberation Front
What did the NLF do?
Organised political opposition to Diem - told villagers to ignore Diem and the governemnt
What happened in December 1960?
The VC joined with the NLF - they encourged villagers to ignore Diem and the governemnt
By the end of 1960 how mixh of South Vietnma was under Diem’s control?
Under half
When did JFK become president?
1961
How did JFK esculate the Vietnam conflict?
Sent about 16,000 more advisers by November 1963
He told advisers to use counter-insurgency tactics
He wanted the ARVN to hunt down the VC
He wanted a policy of pacification
What are Counter-insurgency tactics?
Fighting gurrilla tactics both by military attacks and by winning the hearts and minds of the people
What is a policy of pacification?
Winning the “hearts and minds” of the population
By 1961 how many VC were there in South Vietnam?
12,000
Why was it hard for the ARVN to win the hearts and minds of the people?
The army saw the vilagers as inferior to them
The villagers saw the soldiers as oppresors who were part of the corrupt government
Who were green berets?
US special forces who trained villagers to be protected from the VC
Why did the green bertes mostly fail?
The VC would leave the villages in day but come back at night
They were forign and wern’t trusted by the villagers
When did JFK autherise the uses of defoliants?
December 1961
When did JFK autherise the use of defolients?
December 1961
Which thing of Diem’s work did the US support?
Stragetic Hamlet Program
What was a stragetic hamlet?
Large new villagers surrounded by barbed wire and deffended by the ARVN with facilities such as schools and clinics
What was the point of the strategic hamlets?
The VC wouldn’t be able to recruit new people
Hiw many green berets helped set up the strategic hamlets?
800
When did work on the strategic hamlets start?
January 1962
How many strategic hamlets were built in in a month?
In September 1962
5,000
What was a weekness of the strategic hamlets?
Many villagers didn:t want to leave the land were their ancensters were burried and where they were near family members
Diem’s governemnt failed to provide enough food - some starvation
VC were let in because it was impossible to tell who was i the VC and who wasn’t
What was the name of the 2nd important battle?
Ap Bac
When did the South Vietnamese loose the 2nd important battle in Vietnam?
2nd January 1963
What happened at Ap Bac?
ARVN lost to the VC even though they ARVN outnembered the VC 5-1 and had better weapons
What US casulaties were there in Ap Bac?
5 helicopers were lost
3 advisers
60 troops
How mnay VC casulaties were there at Ap Bac?
Only 3 bodies were found
Unlikly only 3 died but there was little casulaties
What happened on the 6th May 1963?
Diem’s troops fired on a Buddhist procession
9 died
14 injured
What happened in June 1963?
Diem banned the Buddists from flying their flag for the Buddha’s borthday
What happened on the 11th of June?
Having informed the press about hus plans a day before
Quand Duc (a buddist monk) set himslef on fire at a bussy Saigon Junction - and burnt to death as the world watched
(1 month after violence in Birmingham)
What was the name of the monk that set himslef on fire?
Quang Duc
What was JFK’s reaction to the suicide?
He was expressing shock at the photos only 1 month after expressing shoch of the photos from Birmingham
What did Diem do in August 1963?
Despite Kennedy’s requests he increased persecution of Buddists
What was a result of Diem increasing presecution of Buddists?
The US made it clear that they were no longer supporting Diem
When was Diem overthrown?
1st November
What happened on the 1st November?
Diem was overthrown by ARVN generals - the US hurd what was going to happen but dodn’t inform Diem - Diem was Assasonated.
What did JFK’s stress his aims in Vietnam was?
Influence to make a new democratic governmet
To win over the people of Vietnam
Withdraw US advisers and other forces is possible soon
Whne was JFK’s assasonated?
22nd November 1963
Who took over after Diem?
Minh
